Vertically elongated structures, such as pillars, poles, posts, pylons, bollards and the like are commonly formed from reinforced concrete. Similarly, vertically elongated concrete structures in the form of footings or bases may be constructed from reinforced concrete and used to support thereon other structures such as decks, floors, walls, verandahs, roofs, poles, pillars, posts, lintels, monuments, etc.
In all such applications, the vertically elongated concrete structures may optionally be positioned, at least partially, below grade, depending upon the particular application and local building codes.
Vertically elongated concrete structures of the prior art typically have a concrete main body portion that is reinforced with metal reinforcing bar (“rebar”) contained therewithin to increase its strength. Further, one or more metal connection means, such as, for example, threaded rods, may optionally be arranged in a pattern to project upwardly from the top of the vertically elongated concrete structure to be received in cooperating engagement with the base plate, sole plate, lintel, cross-beam, or other co-operating portion, of a deck, floor, wall, verandah, roof, pole, pillar, post, monument, or other structure that is to be supported atop the vertically elongated concrete structure.
Where rebar is used for reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure as aforesaid, a plurality of individual pieces of rebar may be connected together before concrete is poured therearound to form a unitary reinforcement skeleton, which process is, inter alia, both tedious and time-consuming and may require skilled or semi-skilled labor to complete satisfactorily. Accordingly, such reinforcement of vertically elongated concrete structures using rebar may not be particularly suited for completion by inexperienced or unskilled laborers, such as homeowners, or other do-it-yourselfers.
Among the numerous problems typically encountered when using rebar to construct a reinforcement skeleton for vertically elongated concrete structures of the type mentioned hereinabove, many stem from the fact that rebar is typically made available (like construction lumber) in bulk in the form of standard lengths, such that it must be cut to size on the job site for subsequent use in assembling a reinforcement skeleton. As such, there is typically little or no pre-engineering that goes into the design or building of such re-enforcement skeletons, and much happenstance as to how they are constructed on site. In short, quality control is substantially hit and miss, and dependent to an unacceptably large extent upon the experience and skill of the workers who fabricate the reinforcement skeleton from bulk materials on site.
Also, on-site cutting typically requires the use of cutting torches and/or high-powered metal cutting saws under the less than ideal conditions that typically exist at open air construction sites where concrete is to be poured. Such tools are expensive to own and dangerous to operate, and are subject to theft or damage on construction sites.
Additionally, as alluded to above, there is a need for at least semi-skilled labour to carry out the process of accurately and efficiently fabricating rebar reinforcement skeletons, as such labour must be able to accurately measure and safely operate the cutting tools necessary to cut the rebar to the various lengths required for assembly of the reinforcement skeleton prior to it being inserted into a hole in the ground, or into a hollow form structure, used to retain concrete around the reinforcement structure after pouring of the concrete.
If hired labor is retained to fabricate the rebar reinforcement skeleton, such labor is expensive and not always readily available when needed. If this operation is being carried out by a homeowner or a do-it-yourselfer, such labor is typically inexperienced in the task at hand so as to produce inconsistent results.
Furthermore, after cutting to the required lengths, a plurality of rebar sections must be assembled and connected together to form the internal reinforcement skeleton by means of supplemental fastening means, which can include, without limitation, clips, clamps, wire, threaded fasteners, and/or welding. The need for supplemental fastening means not only significantly adds to the cost of producing prior art metal reinforcement skeletons from rebar, but significantly lengthens the time to produce such skeletons. Moreover, the acquisition, set-up and use of welding equipment to complete this task is expensive, time consuming, and is subject to injury or other mishap, and to theft or damage from construction sites.
Even with the proper tools and labour on hand, the production of internal reinforcement skeletons from rebar on a typical construction site is slow and difficult, due in significant part to the harsh and adverse working conditions that typically exist at such open-air construction sites where concrete is being poured. These conditions commonly include the lack of cover from rain, wind and cold, and the lack of clear and even work surfaces and spaces for measuring, cutting and assembly of the metal skeleton. Such adverse working conditions introduce the significant possibility of errors being made and/or shortcuts being taken.
Additionally, reproduction of a plurality of substantially identical metal reinforcement skeletons is required for some projects. Maintaining dimensional accuracy of prior art metal reinforcement skeletons across such a plurality of structures is particularly difficult under the adverse working conditions available at typical open-air construction sites.
Further, prior art metal skeletons assembled according to the prior art from rebar can easily be bent, or otherwise deformed, from their intended shape either during, or after, assembly.
Fabrication of metal reinforcement skeletons from rebar also involves significant expense and logistics problems in procuring all of the necessary materials and assembly equipment from various sources and shipping same, in a secure and timely manner, to a construction site. These problems include, without limitation, the nearly inevitable chance of materials or assembly equipment not arriving at, or disappearing from, a construction site, the lack of protection from weather and other agents of metal materials stored at a construction site, the lack of ready access by workers to plans for assembling the metal skeleton.
Also, with prior art vertically elongated concrete structures, there exists a significant potential problem with respect to alignment of any connection means projecting upwardly from the top of the vertically elongated concrete structure with co-operating receiving means positioned on a base plate or other co-operating receiving means that is to be supported on the vertically elongated concrete structure. This can be particularly problematic where the connection means includes a plurality of threaded rods projecting in a pattern upwardly from the vertically elongated concrete structure to mate with a co-operating pattern of apertures in the base plate, sole plate or other mating portion of a deck, verandah, wall, floor, roof, pole, pillar, post, lintel monument, pylon, bollard or the like to be mounted atop the vertically elongated concrete structure. In such instance, and particularly where the plurality of upwardly extending threaded rods are anchored for added strength to the metal reinforcement skeleton, such reinforcement structure must be fabricated with considerable dimensional accuracy in order to ensure that the threaded rods each mate with the respective holes pattern formed in the base plate, sole plate or other mating component of the deck, floor, verandah, roof, pole, pillar, post, lintel, etc., and, most importantly, also have their longitudinal axis aligned with true vertical, so as to ensure that the structure to be mounted atop the vertically elongated concrete structure is itself aligned with true vertical. Building a rebar reinforcement skeleton with such dimensional accuracy is not easily achievable, particularly by homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, or other inexperienced personnel.
In order to provide an outer peripheral barrier to retain the uncured concrete as it is poured to form an elongate vertically elongated concrete structure, a cylindrically shaped non-metal casting form is often used. One such readily available non-metal casting form is commercially marketed under the trademark Sonotube™, by SPC Resources Inc., of Delaware, USA. Depending upon, inter alia, the size of the elongate vertically elongated concrete structure that is to be formed, and the weight it is to bear, rebar may, or may not, be used with a Sonotube™ casting form. While the Sonotube™ casting form works well and is widely used, it does nothing to address the known prior art problems associated with forming vertically elongated concrete structures, such as time and costs associated with the formation of a rebar reinforcement structure, and the aforementioned problem of alignment of a pattern of upwardly projecting fastening means, such as threaded rods. Furthermore, it may be necessary in some circumstances to use a substantial banding or bracing structure in conjunction with a Sonotube™ casting form in order to bear the lateral forces associated with the weight of the uncured concrete in order to preclude the Sonotube™ casting form from deforming or even rupturing. Also, a substantial banding or bracing structure may be necessary in some applications in order to ensure that the body of the vertically elongated concrete structure stricture and/or any rebar used therein remains truly vertically oriented so as to ensure that any structure mounted atop such vertically elongated concrete structure is similarly truly vertically oriented.
It is also known in the prior art to use a footing form in conjunction with a cylindrically shaped non-metal casting form such as a Sonotube™ in order to support the casting form from below. One such prior art footing form can be found in issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,481 issued Jan. 11, 2005 to Swinimer and entitled Footing Form. The bell-shaped footing form is for use during the pouring of a footing for a structural pillar and is preferably constructed from a thermoplastic such as a high density polyethylene or ABS. The footing form encases and supports the bottom portion of the cylindrically shaped non-metal casting form. While this footing form does help support the cylindrically shaped non-metal casting form during the pouring of concrete, it does not fully support the cylindrically shaped non-metal casting form over its entire height, and does not address the aforementioned problems associated with the use of rebar, including the alignment of threaded rods into cooperating apertures in a base plate to be mounted thereon.
Other relevant known prior art can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 9,284,744 issued Mar. 15, 2016 to Patterson et al. and entitled Modular Concrete Pole Base. The pole base disclosed in this patent provides a secure mounting structure that can easily be adapted for use with multiple configurations of poles and includes a concrete body having metal rebar therein, which is well known in the art. A load-bearing pole attachment comprises a metal plate disposed on, or within, the upper portion of the body and is configured to removably receive a plurality of fasteners. The fasteners are used to secure a pole on the load-bearing pole attachment. The concrete body may include a central cavity for receiving conduit and the like therethrough. As is typical with such prior art pole base structures, the Patterson et al. structure requires a significant amount of forming and fastening of rebar.
According to one object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure for supporting decks, floors, verandahs, roofs, poles, pillars, posts, lintels and the like, the components of which skeleton are all pre-engineered and pre-cut when received by an end-user.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a pre-engineered metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the rebar components of the metal skeleton do not need to be cut to size on a job site for subsequent use in assembling the reinforcement skeleton.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein metal skeleton is capable of being pre-engineered to exacting standards of dimension, rigidity strength and quality control.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the strength, quality and dimensional accuracy of the metal skeleton is not dependent upon the experience and skill of those assembling the skeleton.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton need not be formed de novo each time from bulk materials cut at a construction site and that is easily replicated with dimensional accuracy.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein formation of the metal skeleton does not require the use of cutting torches and/or high-powered metal cutting saws.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein formation of the pre-engineered metal skeleton does not require the use of tools that are expensive to own and dangerous to operate, and that are subject to theft, or damage, on construction sites.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein formation of the metal skeleton can be done without the need of skilled or semi-skilled labour.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein formation of the metal skeleton can be carried out without the need for supplemental fastening means such as clips, clamps, wires threaded fasteners, and/or welding.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the components of the metal skeleton can be readily procured and securely shipped from a single source to a construction site in a standard shipping container.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein assembly of the metal skeleton can be carried out readily and quickly with predictable results in adverse working conditions including the lack of cover from rain, wind and cold, and the lack of clear and even work surfaces and spaces for measuring, cutting and assembly.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which significantly reduces the likelihood of dimensional errors in the concrete structure formed therearound.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton significantly reduces the possibility of errors being made and/or shortcuts being taken in its construction.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton is highly resistant to bending, or other deformation from its initial shape either during, or after, assembly.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton facilitates the even and consistent distribution of concrete therearound during pouring of the concrete.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the significant expense and logistics problems in procuring all of the necessary materials and assembly equipment from various sources and shipping same, in a secure and timely manner, to a construction site are obviated.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton is readily reproducible as full scale test mules for stress and quality control evaluation and testing in controlled environments prior to similar skeletons being rolled out for widespread commercial use.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the aforesaid problem of vertically aligning a pattern of threaded rods with a corresponding pattern of holes in the base plate, sole plate or sole plate or other mating component of a deck, verandah, floor, roof, pole, pillar, post, lintel, or other structure to be mounted atop the vertically elongated concrete structure is substantially overcome.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein it is unnecessary to use a supplemental bracing structure in forming either the metal skeleton or the vertically elongated concrete structure to ensure that the vertically elongated concrete structure remains vertically oriented thereby to provide for vertical orientation of any structure mounted atop the vertically elongated concrete structure.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, wherein the metal skeleton can be manufactured according to very high pre-engineered standards of strength and durability and that is easily reproducible for pre-testing purposes, and for the purposes of mass-producing similar metal skeletons.
According to another object of the present invention, there is provided a metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure, which metal skeleton can be assembled with greater speed and accuracy than prior art reinforcement skeletons suitable for forming such vertically elongated concrete structures.
There is thus disclosed according to one embodiment of the present invention a novel metal skeleton for the reinforcement of a vertically elongated concrete structure to be formed therearound. The metal skeleton has a vertical axis and comprises a first plurality of leg members each having a top end and a bottom end, an inner side edge and an outer side edge together defining a leg body portion. A first plurality of rib plate engagement slots are formed in at least one of the inner side edge and the outer side edge. Each of the leg members is formed from a substantially flat sheet of metal material. A first plurality of rib plates each define a generally planar central body portion and each have a first plurality of leg-engagement slots projecting into the central body portion. The leg-engagement slots are dimensioned and otherwise adapted to frictionally engage with respective ones of the rib plate engagement slots. The first plurality of leg-engagement slots slidingly interfit within respective ones of the first plurality of rib-engagement slots to securely connect the rib plates to the leg members to form the metal skeleton.
The above and other aspects, objects, advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter of which is briefly described hereinbelow.